Stars and royals who have been strong allies to the LGBTQ community

Every June, people celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. While there are plenty of LGBTQ+ stars to be proud of, the community has long had solid, strong support from many straight and cisgender stars in Hollywood and showbiz - and also from some royals!

Click through the gallery to see which royals and celebrities have been some of the biggest allies to the LGBTQ+ community and how they've shown their support through the years.

Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry

While there, Meghan reportedly told Jacob Thomas, who won an award for helping reduce LGBTQ+ suicide rates, that “This is a basic human rights issue, not one about sexuality.”

Harry reportedly agreed with her. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also reportedly told Jonah Chinga, an LGBTQ+ rights activist from Kenya, that they would put LGBTQ+ issues at the forefront of their work.

On June 1, Harry and Meghan made a special post on their Instagram to mark Pride month.

“We stand with you and support you,” the post read, along with a rainbow emoji. “Because it’s very simple: love is love.”

Prince William

In the issue, the Duke of Cambridge spoke out about bullying, and expressed support for the community.

”No one should be bullied for their sexuality or any other reason and no ne should have to put up with the kind of hate that these young people have endured in their lives,” he told the publication.

”The young gay, lesbian and transgender individuals I met through Attitude are truly brave to speak out and give hope to people who are going through terrible bullying right now,” he said. “Their sense of strenghh and optimism should give us all encouragement to stand up to bullying whenever we see it.”

Beyoncé and Jay-Z

Queen Bey and Hova were honoured by GLAAD (the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) for their allyship earlier this year. Presenter Lena Waithe dubbed them “the most powerful black people in the country” when she introduced them.

Transgender writer and director Janet Mock also said her casting in Jay-Z’s “Family Feud” music video helped ensure “LGBTQ people are worth being seen, heard, and affirmed.”

Beyoncé said she was “overwhelmed” in their acceptance speech.

“We are here to promote love for every human being,” she told the room, according to NBC News. “Let’s tell them they are loved, tell them they are beautiful, speak out and protect them. And parents, let’s love our kids in their truest form.”

Jay-Z’s mother, Gloria, was gay, and in 2018, he revealed he cried “happy tears” when she came out to him.

“For my mother, to have to live as someone that she wasn’t and hide and protect her kids for all this time, and for her to sit in front of me and tell me, ‘I think I love someone,’ I really cried,” he told David Letterman in his My Next Guest Needs No Introduction Netflix series.

“That’s a real story – I cried because I was so happy for her that she was free.”

Cher

Cher was loved by the LGBTQ+ community in the ‘70s and ‘80s due to wearing drag and sporting leather, and she further cemented her ally status when her son, Chaz Bono, who was assigned female at birth and lived as a lesbian for more than a decade, came out as transgender and began transitioning.

She has since been outspoken for LGBTQ+ people everywhere, saying it is “unfair” for them not to have the same rights as straight and/or cisgender people.

Jodie Comer

The Killing Eve star has become an LGBTQ+ icon since the show became a massive hit, and has voiced strong support for the community and how much they love her character, Villanelle.

“I know Villanelle has really resonated with the LGBT community,” she told Vulture in April. “The fact that she’s unapologetically herself and free with her sexuality – her sexuality was something I never questioned and always celebrated. That’s what’s so refreshing. It’s just a part of her. That’s what I love about her. It’s not something that [the writers] spoke about or is featured really heavily – you just accept this woman for who she is. And I think it’s really beautiful.”

Benedict Cumberbatch

The Imitation Game star has long been one of the LGBTQ+ community's strongest allies. He played gay World War II codebreaker Alan Turing in the movie, and has voiced his support for LGBTQ rights many times.

“Human rights movements and sexual and gay rights movements have made huge social progress in the last 40 years, without a doubt, but there’s a lot more work to be done,” he said in an interview with Out magazine in 2014.

Sally Field

In 2012, Sally, whose son Sam (pictured) is gay, received an Ally for Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign.

“He grew up wanting to be just like his big brothers – athletic and rambunctious, not to mention a little bit macho,” she said in her acceptance speech. “But Sam was different, and his journey to allow himself what nature intended him to be was not an easy one. As his mother, I consider it one of the great privileges of my life to be part of it.”

Ariana Grande

Ariana has long stood up against homophobic and transphobic bullying, and took part in Seventeen magazine’s Digital Drama Campaign to stop cyberbullying in 2013.

After the US Supreme Court’s landmark gay marriage decision in 2015, she tweeted that she was crying with happiness.

She’s also been outspoken about her support for her gay fans – both those who are out and those who aren’t.“To my gay fans, I love you so much,” she said in 2015 on National Coming Out Day. “And to my fans who are not out of the closet yet, to my babes who are shy about it: I love you, and you do not have to rush. You can take your time.”

She went even further during Pride in 2018, when she wrote LGBTQ+ people an emotional letter, saying how much she loved them.

”I am eternally indebted to and inspired by the LGBTQ community,” she wrote in a letter for Billboard. “I hope to create anthems for you that wrap you up with comfort and make you get your best life for as long as I live. Thank you for celebrating me the way I celebrate you.”

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for AG

Anne Hathaway

In 2018, the Oscar-winning star of Les Misérables received an award from the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ rights organization in the US, for her advocacy work.

“Authentic equality doesn’t prioritize sexual orientation, it doesn’t put any one gender or race at the centre,” she said in her acceptance speech. “What it does do is centralize love. And when love is fully centralized, every door opens for everybody.”

Mila Kunis

Like her friend, Kristen Bell, Mila also thought it was problematic to get married when her gay friends couldn't.

“When I was 14… I was like, ‘I’m not getting married because the gays can’t get married, and so I’m never getting married.’ Never thinking that the gays were ever gonna get married!” she told PrideSource in 2017.

“So, I was just like, ‘It is what it is.’… It just didn’t feel equal, so why would I? It just didn’t feel like it made sense to me.

“The concept of marriage didn’t make sense to me because my friends couldn’t do it, and I found nothing wrong with what they wanted. So, I was like, ‘Well, then it’s not sacred, then it’s not what it’s supposed to be, so I don’t want it.’”

Jennifer Lopez

You might remember that J.Lo appeared on groundbreaking sitcom Will & Grace in the ‘90s, and she’s been all about supporting LGBTQ+ visibility and representation in Hollywood ever since. She’s raised money for HIV/AIDS research, and also jumped to help those who were victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando in 2016.

She helped make The Fosters into a TV sensation by taking the show under the wing of her production company, Nuyorican Productions. The show depicts two lesbian mothers raising a blended family, and also incorporates themes of gender identity and includes transgender characters.

The show was instrumental in helping J.Lo win a GLAAD Award in 2014.

In her acceptance speech, the pop star said her LGBTQ+ fans are always “in my heart,” and asid “If I do anything that makes one child out there feel empowered... my dream has come true.”

It’s not a commonly known fact that Jennifer’s aunt is gay. In 2014, she addressed this in her GLAAD speech.

“[Aunt Marisa] grew up gay in a time when it mean life could be very difficult and that her struggles were mostly kept to herself,” she said. “It wasn't until I got older that I really began to know and appreciate all the difficulties she dealt with and the struggles of her community. I also realized the quiet lessons I learned from my family about love, tolerance, and acceptance. We loved her. That was all because of her. So I wanted to do this because I felt that she would be so proud of me. I thought about that a lot when I was doing this. And as I do now I always think, I bet she would love this. And I know she is proud of me and everybody here. She's proud of all of us.”

She’s also been a pillar of support for Brendan, her sister’s child, and uses gender-neutral pronouns to refer to them, as they’ve asked.

Joe Manganiello

In 2014, the former True Blood hunk received the Ally for Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ rights organization in the US.

“I never set out to be an advocate,” he said in his acceptance speech. “I’m simply a person who believes in equality for everyone, and I’m a person who believes in standing up for his friends.”

He also said he had watched his LGBTQ friends endure challenges he realized he didn’t have.

“I’ve never had to suffer any of those difficulties myself, but somewhere along the line I decided to open my big mouth and use my platform to fight for all of the people to be free to be who they are no matter where they are, and be able to share their life and love with whomever their heart sees fit to love.

“I choose to fight for a world where equality is reality, not just a dream.”

Kylie Minogue

In 2018, she spoke to Billboard about how she realized the community idolized her, saying: “I was in Sydney and there’s a famous bar on Oxford Street called the Albury, and at the time it was the gay bar in the gay area in Sydney. I was in the car, my manager was in the car with me along with a couple other people, and someone said, ‘There’s Kylie Night at the Albury tonight.’ And I was like, ‘What?!’ I’d never heard of a Kylie Night, but I said, ‘We should go! We should go!’ At the time, I’d done an ad for Coca-Cola, and someone said, ‘Ohhh, I think someone has gone as a Coke can.’ There weren’t that many versions of me back then, I’m talking 1989 or ’90. Now there’s tons of them – choose a look. But I’m the least Kylie person when I’m at any of those nights. I looked like they should not have let me in.”

Daniel Radcliffe

Throughout his career, he has been outspoken for LGBTQ+ rights. In 2012, he filmed PSAs for The Trevor Project, which works to prevent suicides of LGBTQ+ youth. He also appeared on the cover of British publication Attitude to discuss his support for LGBTQ+ people.

“The ultimate reason gay marriage should be legalized everywhere is because, as a kid, you look to your mum and dad and they’re married, then you look at the gay couple who’ve been together for the same amount of time, but because they can’t get married their relationship doesn’t seem the same,” he said. “Gay people should have equality in law everywhere.”

Carrie Underwood

The Grammy Award winning country star has been an LGBTQ+ ally for years. She is a member of GracePointe Church, which declared full acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in 2015.

“Our church is gay friendly,” she told The Independent in 2012. “Above all, God wanted us to love others. It’s not about setting rules or [saying], ‘everyone has to be like me.’ No. We’re all different. That’s what makes us special. We have to love each other and get on with each other. It’s not up to me to judge anybody.”

Marlon Wayans

Just a few weeks ago, Marlon took to Instagram to wish his daughter, Amai, a happy Pride month.

”Love you to the moon around the sun through the galaxies and back again,” he wrote.

Unfortunately, some in the comments said his daughter was “not old enough to understand” her own sexual orientation.

“She’s 19,” Marlon responded. “She is who she is until or until she don’t [sic] choose to be different. Love her for her, not what I want her to be.”

He went on to say he thought of erasing all the negative comments, but opted to leave them up so people could see what LGBTQ+ people still deal with.

“We all will some day get to unconditional love,” he wrote. “Because of my daughter I am one step closer. I am not God, I don’t judge, I just LOVE. And still pray for the haters because I refuse to judge them too just love.”

Kerry Washington

“The research is clear,” the Scandal star said in an acceptance speech for a GLSEN Award in 2017. “By creating school environments that embrace queer inclusivity, understanding, and acceptance, you not only empower LGBTQ students, you help all students. When you ensure the protection of one, you make space for all. You transform your schools into places where everyone belongs – where everyone is free to learn, and where everyone can feel loved.”